West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #16
The Dive
To celebrate the perfect union of her two warring personalities, Tigra celebrates by diving off San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. She pulls off a perfect dive and joins Hellcat, Daimon Hellstrom, and Hank Pym in the yacht below. Tigra is pleased that she is no longer afraid of water and that she is now in perfect synch, thanks to the help from Patsy and Daimon.[1] Their celebration is cut short when they spot the Coast Guard chasing the villain Tiger Shark. Pursing the crook in their own boat, Tigra and Hellcat work together to incapacitate Tiger Shark by slicing open his costume, spilling his internal water supply that augments his power.[2]
As the two women are wrapping up Tiger Shark for the police, Hank Pym recalls that Tiger Shark was one of the villains hired by Egghead to ruin his life. As he is being handed over to the police, Tiger Shark mocks Pym for giving up on his costumed hero career, prompting questions from Diamon Hellstrom. Hank isn’t ashamed of the mistakes he made in his past and tells everyone about his fall from grace. He explains that — as Yellowjacket — he was struggling to make a name for himself as a hero and Avenger. He took his frustrations out on his then-wife the Wasp. His insecurities caused him to prolonge a battle between the Avengers and a foe called the Elfqueen. Court-martialed, Hank tried to manipulate the events by unleashing a robot on the meeting and stopping it to prove his value to the team. His plan backfired and Hank had to be saved by the Wasp. Expelled from the Avengers, and divorced from his wife, Hank struggled to find work and was offered a job by his old foe Egghead. The mad scientist then framed Hank for a crime which landed him in jail. It took the Avengers to uncover the truth and clear his name, and Egghead died in the following battle. However, the entire experience convinced Hank that he didn’t have what it took to be an Avenger and quit. Since then he realized he could use his skills to help the Avengers in a support capacity, giving him the best of both worlds.[3]
When mentioning Tiger Shark’s allies during these events, the mention of Whirlwind’s name sets Tiger Shark off. As it turns out, he and Whirlwind were supposed to meet up in San Francisco and vows to get revenge for being abandoned.
When Hank and Tigra go back to Daimon and Patsy’s home in town, the married couple decide to go upstairs for some alone time. Hank tries to do the same with Tigra, however, Greer stops him. She explains that their past romance came at a time where she was fighting with her conflicting personalities. Now that she is properly merged with the spirit of Tigra, she is a completely different person with different feelings for Hank. She tells him that the idea of romance isn’t impossible given enough times, but for now she just wants to be friends. When Tigra leaves, Hank loses his temper furious over the rejection but cautions himself to keep it together, remembering how Quicksilver recently went insane, and reminds himself to keep plugging along.[4]
Meanwhile, back in Los Angeles, the other Avengers are over at Wonder Man’s house for dinner. Clint Barton, his wife Bobbi, and Tony Stark relax while Simon is working in the kitchen. Tony suggests that they finally recruit Bonita Juarez, aka Firebird, onto the team. Since Clint botched recruiting her the first time around he figures enough time has passed to try again.[5]
Back in San Francisco, Hank Pym can’t stop thinking about Whirlwind, who was his earliest foe back in the days when he was Giant-Man.[6] That evening, Whirlwind is skulking in an alley to steal a valuable psycho-circuit that is being transported by police.[7] However, when he makes his move, Tigra and Hellcat are there to stop him. Hank Pym is cheering them on up on a nearby rooftop. Seeing his old enemy, Whirlwind races up to the roof to mock his old foe for being a failure.[8] Hank loses his temper and tries to lunge at Whirlwind who easily move out of the way. Instead of falling to his death, he is rescued by Hellcat while Tigra captures Whirlwind. As he is being hauled away, the villain tells Hank to not forget what he said. When Hellcat asks what Whirlwind was talking about, Pym dismisses it as nothing.
Later, back at the Hellstrom residence, Tigra wonders where Hank is and finds him upstairs looking out at the Golden Gate Bridge from the window. When Tigra mentions how she can’t imagine why so many people jump off the bridge to commit suicide, Hank muses that the type of person who does that must be certain they have nothing left to live for.
Recurring Characters
West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Iron Man, Wonder Man, Tigra), Hellcat, Hank Pym, Son of Satan, Tiger Shark, Whirlwind,
Continuity Notes
The relationship between Tigra and Hellcat is complicated (what isn’t in comics?) The facts:
Greer Grant originally wore the Hellcat costume in her early career as the Cat. The suit was created by Doctor Joanne Tomolo, secretly one of the Cat People. See The Cat #1-4.
During a battle with Hydra, Greer was stricken with radiation poisoning. Tomolo saved her life with a mystical ceremony that merged her spirit with that of the Cat People’s champion, the were-cat Tigra. See Giant-Size Creatures #1.
The Hellcat costume ended up in storage at the Brand Corporation until it was found by Patsy Walker in Avengers #144 and — as Hellcat — she wore it ever since.
In the meantime, the process that turned Greer into Tigra was incomplete because the costume was needed to properly complete the merger. This caused Tigra’s two souls to conflict with one another, starting in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #1. Ultimately, their spirits were properly aligned when Greer was re-merged with Tigra’s spirit while wearing the Hellcat costume last issue.
Tigra recalls how she recently fought other cat themed foes recently. Notably Leo of the Zodiac in West Coast Avenges Annual #1 and the Cat People in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #14-15.
Hank’s fall from grace is a long one and he omits some very important details:
His struggle with making a place for himself among the Avengers became a priority when he rejoined the team in Avengers #211. He started taking out his frustrations by verbally abusing his then-wife, the Wasp.
The incident with Elfqueen happened in issue #212. Captain America had just talked their foe into surrendering when Hank attacked her from behind, prolonging the battle.
Set to be court-martialed, Hank created the robot to try and win back his teammates support in Avengers #213. What Hank doesn’t mention here is that the reason why his wife divorced him was because he struck her before the meeting and that seing her bruised face was one of the main reasons why he was kicked out of the Avengers.
Hank was tricked into stealing scientific equipment by Egghead in issue #217, landing him in jail.
His trail, Egghead’s plot being exposed and the mad scientist’s apparent death happened in Avengers #228-229. Egghead didn’t actually die though as he injected himself with a rejuvenation serum and he will turn up alive again in Ant-Man Annual #1.
Hank later retired from costumed heroics in Avengers #230.
Hank encountered an insane Quicksilver in West Coast Avengers Annual #1. Everyone believes that Pietro’s lapse in sanity was due to the discovery that his wife, Crystal, was having an affair in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #10. While that didn’t help things, the real reason is because he has been slowly driven insane by Maximus. See X-Factor Annual #2.
When Hawkeye first formed the west coat team in West Coast Avengers #1, he was under the impression that he could only recruit six members onto the team after Captain America imposed this cap onto the east coast team in Avengers #211. He tried courting the Thing between West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #4-9 while snubbing Firebird who was helping the team out at the same time. When the Thing left for personal reasons in the following issue, Clint learned from the Wasp that the membership cap was nixed some time ago in Avengers #258. By that time, it was too late to recruit Firebird as she departed to find new purpose.
David Cannon, as the Human Top, became the primary antagonist to Giant-Man and the Wasp starting in Tales to Astonish #50. He changed his name to the less ridiculous moniker of Whirlwind in Avengers #46.
Whirlwind cites the recent defeat of the Masters of Evil and his recent defeat at the hands of Captain America as reasons to relocate to San Francisco. See Avengers #273-277 and Captain America #324.
Whirlwind mocks Hank Pym because so many people have been more successful using his past identities than he ever did:
For the record, at the time of this story, Hank has had four different identities: Ant-Man (Tales to Astonish #35), Giant-Man (Tales to Astonish #49), Goliath (Avengers #28), and Yellowjacket (Avengers #59)
The Ant-Man identity was taken over by Scott Lang, with Hank’s blessings, in Marvel Premiere #47.
Bill Foster, a long time associate of Hank, used Hank’s growth formula and operated as both Black Goliath (Power Man #24), Giant-Man (Marvel Two-in-One #55)
Hawkeye also briefly used the Goliath name and growth formula from Avengers #63-98.
Criminals aren’t above using Hank’s former identities such as the criminals Erik Josten becoming Goliath (Iron Man Annual #7) and Rita DeMara becoming Yellowjacket (Avengers #264)
